Son of Godzilla (1967) Saturday Monster Movies

The three next films in the Godzilla series are a real low point in the franchise. Things become truly Saturday morning child’s fare. Here, we get the introduction of Godzilla’s “son.” A bizarre, not at all scary, monster—in the loosest sense of the word.

What is slightly more interesting here in “Son of Godzilla” is the human drama. A team of scientists is on the island attempting to change the climate to improve farming and the conditions for poor people all over the world. It is a noble endeavor, but one doomed to failure. They end up not cooling things down, as they intended to do, but heat things up unbearably.

This is an interesting—and probably unintentional—commentary on the differences between science as it was intended to be, and applied science, which is a trickier thing, ethically speaking. There is a famous quote from Clark that “any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” That is because magic and applied science are all about changing the world. Technology may be more effective than magic, but the difference between scientists and wizards is not one of purpose.

And the danger of technology is that we often underestimate the impact that we have on the world. Unintended consequences are still potentially devastating.